Vista Gets an Anti-"Activation Hack" Update

Microsoft's made no secret of the fact that a patch for Vista - sans the SP1 update - will disable the OEM BIOS Hack and Grace Time Hack some use to get around activation. Naturally, SP1 will do so as well, but if you try to get around it, you can only avoid it if you disable / hide the update.

The release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 not only heralded a long-awaited update of the operating system, it also meant the end of two common Windows Vista anti-activation exploits - the Grace Timer exploit and the Paradox OEM BIOS activation crack. But those who think they can escape by not updating to Service Pack 1 would be sadly mistaken.

That's because Microsoft has surreptitiously released an anti-hack detection update via Windows Update. Those who chose to have Windows Vista install updates automatically would have this update installed and running by now. If you chose to manually select updates to be installed, you should find this update listed.

It's not like you should even be using this hacks anyway right? Microsoft originally stated the update would only detect, not remove the hacks, but some users are reporting differently.